Module 1-2

Characteristics of TQM

1. Customer Focus: There are two aspects for this approach; (a) Focus on internal
customer and supplier relations. Employees are to be barrier free to achieve the
quality. (b)To create customer satisfaction, it is not enough just to live up to the
customer’s expectations. Further , the manufacturer has to add one or more
qualities to the product or service in addition to customer expectation and tthese
extra qualities give the customer extra value.
2. Continuous Improvement: TQM is based on the philosophy of continuous
improvement, also known as Kaizen.This involves constantly seeking ways to
improve processes, products, and services to enhance quality and efficiency.
There are two aspects for this improvement. (a) internal quality improvements (b)
external quality improvements. The main aim of internal quality improvements is
to make the internal processes ‘leaner’,- to prevent defects and problems in the
internal processes which will lead to lower costs.

External quality improvements are aimed at the external customer, the aim being
to increase customer satisfaction and thereby achieve a bigger market share and
with it, higher earnings.

3. Employee Involvement: TQM recognizes the importance of involving employees

at all levels in the organization in quality improvement efforts. Employees are
encouraged to contribute ideas, identify problems, and participate in decision-
making processes related to quality.
4. Process-Oriented Approach: TQM focuses on improving the quality of processes
rather than just the end product. By optimizing processes, organizations can
achieve higher levels of efficiency, consistency, and quality in their outputs.
5. Data-Driven Decision Making: TQM relies on the collection and analysis of data
to drive decision-making processes. Data is used to identify areas for
improvement, track progress, and make informed decisions about quality
initiatives.
6. Leadership Commitment: TQM requires strong leadership commitment and
support at all levels of the organization. Leaders must champion quality
initiatives, set clear quality objectives, and provide the necessary resources and
support for implementation.
7. Supplier Relationships: TQM emphasizes the importance of building strong
relationships with suppliers. Collaborating closely with suppliers helps ensure the
 quality of inputs and fosters a shared commitment to continuous improvement
throughout the supply chain.
8. Quality Assurance and Control: TQM incorporates rigorous quality assurance
and control measures to ensure that products and services meet established
quality standards. This involves implementing quality management systems,
conducting regular audits, and implementing corrective actions when necessary.
9. Training and Education: TQM recognizes the importance of providing employees
with the necessary training and education to effectively contribute to quality
improvement efforts. Training programs help build skills, enhance awareness of
quality issues, and foster a culture of continuous learning and improvement.
10. Benchmarking: TQM involves benchmarking against industry best practices and
competitors to identify opportunities for improvement and set challenging but
achievable quality targets.

Deming's 14-Point Philosophy

Dr. W. Edwards Deming is largely credited with the focus on quality within business to
achieve success. His message was this: By improving quality, companies will decrease
expenses as well as increase productivity and market share.

Deming's points apply to any type and size of business. Service companies need to
control quality just as much as manufacturing companies. And the philosophy applies
equally to large multinational corporations, different divisions or departments within a
company, or even single-person operations.

1. Create a Constant Purpose Toward Improvement

● Plan for quality in the long term.

● Resist reacting with short-term solutions.

● Don't just do the same things better – find better things to do.
2. Adopt the New Philosophy
● Embrace quality throughout the organization.

● Put your customers' needs first, rather than react to competitive pressure – and
design products and services to meet those needs.

● Be prepared for a major change in the way business is done. It's about leading,
not simply managing.
 ● Create your quality vision and implement it.
3. Stop Depending on Inspections

● Inspections are costly and unreliable – and they don't improve quality, they
merely find a lack of quality.

● Build quality into the process from start to finish.

● Use statistical control methods – not physical inspections alone – to prove that
the process is working.

4. Use a Single Supplier for Any One Item

● Quality relies on consistency – the less variation you have in the input, the less
variation you'll have in the output.

● Suppliers are to be treated as your partners in quality. Encourage them to spend

time improving their own quality .

● Use quality statistics to ensure that suppliers meet your quality standards.
5. Improve Constantly and Forever

● Continuously improve your systems and processes. Deming promoted the Plan-
Do-Check-Act approach to process analysis and improvement.

Emphasize training and education so everyone can do their jobs better.

Use KAIZEN as a model to reduce waste and to improve productivity, effectiveness,

and safety.

6. Use Training on the Job

● Train for consistency to help reduce variation.

● Build a foundation of common knowledge.

● Allow workers to understand their roles in the "big picture."

● Encourage staff to learn from one another, and provide a culture and
environment for effective teamwork.
7. Implement Leadership

● Expect your supervisors and managers to understand their workers and the
processes they use.

● Figure out what each person actually needs to do their best. For example,
hardware, software, other tools, and training.

● Find ways to reach full potential, and don't just focus on meeting targets and
quotas.

8. Eliminate Fear

● Allow people to perform at their best by ensuring that they're not afraid to express
ideas or concerns.

● Let everyone know that the goal is to achieve high quality by doing more things
right

● Make workers feel valued, and encourage them to look for better ways to do
things.

● Ensure that leaders are approachable and that they work with teams to act in the
company's best interests.

● Use open and honest communication to remove fear from the organization.
9. Break Down Barriers Between Departments

● Build the "internal customer" concept – recognize that each department or

function serves other departments that use their output.

● Build a shared vision.

10. Get Rid of Unclear Slogans

● Let people know exactly what you want – don't make them guess. "Excellence in
service" is short and memorable, but what does it mean? How is it achieved?

The message is clearer in a slogan like "Always be striving to be better."

11. Eliminate Management by Objectives

● Look at how processes are carried out, not just numerical targets. Deming said
that production targets can encourage high output but result in low quality.

● Provide support and resources so that both production levels and quality are
high and achievable.

● Measure the process rather than the people behind the process.
12. Remove Barriers to Pride of Workmanship

● Allow everyone to take pride in their work without being rated or compared.

● Treat workers equally, and don't make them compete with colleagues for
monetary or other rewards. Over time, the quality system will naturally raise the

level of everyone's work to an equally high level.

13. Implement Education and Self-Improvement

● Encourage people to learn to improve the current skills and to attain new skills to
prepare for future changes and challenges.

● Build skills to make your workforce more adaptable to change, and better able to
find and achieve improvements.

14. Make "Transformation" Everyone's Job

● Improve your overall organization by having each person take a step toward
quality.

● Analyze each small step, and ask yourself how it fits into the bigger picture.

Juran’s quality trilogy:

Quality-based organizations should strive to achieve perfection by continuously
improving the business and production processes.

Improvement is made by
● Viewing all work as a process, whether it is associated with production or
business activities.
 ● Making all processes effective, efficient, and adaptable.
● Anticipating changing customer needs.
● Controlling in-process performance using measures such as scrap reduction,
cycle time, control charts, and so forth.
● Eliminating waste and rework wherever it occurs.
● Using benchmarking to improve competitive advantage.
● Incorporating lessons learned into future activities.
● Using technical tools such as statistical process control (SPC), experimental
design, benchmarking, quality function deployment (QFD), and so forth.

Process refers to business and production activities of an organization. Business

processes such as purchasing, engineering, accounting, and marketing are areas
where nonconformance can represent an opportunity for substantial improvement.

Juran advocated 10 steps for quality improvements as follows:

1. Build awareness of the need and opportunity for improvement.
2. Set goals for improvement.
3. Organize to reach the goals (establish a quality council, identify problems, select
projects, appoint teams, designate facilitators).
4. Provide training.
5. Carry out projects to solve problems.
6. Report progress.
7. Give recognition.
8. Communicate results.
9. Keep score
10. Maintain momentum by making annual improvement part of the regular systems and
processes of the company.

Juran’s Trilogy:
It has three components: planning, control, and improvement, and is referred to as the
Juran Trilogy. It is based loosely on financial processes such as budgeting (planning),
expense measurement (control), and cost reduction (improvement).
 Fig. Juran’s Trilogy diagram
Planning: There are three steps . The First step is to identify the external customers and
their needs. Pareto diagram may be used to determine the vital few. Real customer
needs may be different from stated needs.

[For example, a stated need may be an automobile, whereas the real need is
transportation or a status symbol. In addition, internal customers may not wish to voice
real needs out of fear of the consequences.] One might discover these needs by (1)
being a user of the product or service, (2) communicating with customers through
product or service satisfaction and dissatisfaction information, or (3) simulation in the
laboratory.

In the second step the customer needs should be translated to requirements that are
understandable to the organization and its suppliers.
The next step is to develop product and/or service features that respond to customer
needs, meet the needs of the organization and its suppliers, and optimize the costs of
all stakeholders. Quality function deployment, Taguchi’s quality engineering , and
quality by design are some of the tools that can be used.

The fourth step is to develop the processes able to produce the product and/or ser-vice
features. This step is also performed by a multifunctional team with a liaison to the
design team. Activities include determining the necessary facilities, training, and
operation, control, and maintenance of the facilities.

Transferring plans to operations is the final step of the planning process.When training
is necessary, it should be performed by members of the process planning team.
Process validation is necessary to ensure that a process will consistently produce a
product or service meeting requirements.

Control: Control is used to help meet the product, process, and service requirements. It
uses the feedback loop and consists of the following steps:
1. Determine items/subjects to be controlled and their units of measure.
2. Set goals for the controls and determine what sensors need to be put in place to
measure the product, process, or service.
3. Measure actual performance.
4. Compare actual performance to goals.
5. Act on the difference.
Statistical process control is the primary technique for achieving control. The basic
statistical process control (SPC) tools are Pareto diagrams, flow diagrams, cause-and-
effect diagrams, check sheets, histograms, control charts, and scatter diagrams.

Improvement
Improvement aims to attain levels of performance that are significantly higher than
current levels.
Process improvements begin with the establishment of an effective infrastructure such
as the quality council . The duties of the council are to identify the improvement projects
and establish the project teams with a project owner. In addition, the quality council
needs to provide the teams with the resources to determine the causes, create
solutions, and establish controls to hold the gains .

Improvement strategies: There are four primary improvement strategies—repair,

refinement, renovation, and reinvention. Choosing the right strategy for the right
situation is critical.
Repair: Simple—anything broken must be fixed so that it functions as designed. There
are two levels to this strategy. If a customer receives a damaged product, a quick fix is
required. This level is a temporary or short-term measure.
The second level occurs when an individual or team identifies and eliminates the root
cause(s) of the problem and effects a permanent solution. It is important to note that the
repair strategy does not make the process better than the original design.

Refinement : This strategy involves activities that continually improve a process that is
not broken. Improvements to processes, products, and services are accomplished on
an incremental basis. Refinement improves efficiency and effectiveness.

Renovation: This strategy results in major or breakthrough improvements. Although the

resulting product, service, process, or activity might often appear to be different from the
original, it is basically the same. Innovation and technological advancements are key
factors in this approach. For example, the process of drilling a hole was originally done
by hand with a cranking mechanism; however, with the advent of the electric motor, the
electric drill was born.

Reinvention: Reinvention or reengineering begins by imagining that the previous

condition does not exist—in other words, a clean sheet of paper. Then the team uses in-
depth knowledge of the customer’s requirements and expectations and invents a new
product, service, process, or activity. For example, the process of drilling holes using
lasers or water jets was a reinvention.

Crosby's fourteen steps for quality improvement.

According to Crosby quality is conformance to requirement and can only be measured

by the cost of non-conformance. Crosby provides four absolutes and the 14 steps for
the quality improvement process.

His four absolutes are:

1. Definition of quality—conformance to requirements.
2. Quality system—prevention of nonconformance is the objective not appraisal
3. Quality standard—zero defects, not “that’s close enough,”
4. Measurement of quality—price of non-conformance.

His 14 steps for quality improvement can be described as follows:

1. Management commitment: Prepare a quality policy that states each individual is
expected to perform according to the requirement or cause. The requirement is to be
officially changed to what we and the customer really need.
2. Quality improvement team: Bring together representatives of each department to
form the quality improvement team. Orient the team members as to the content and
purpose of the program. Explain their roles.

3. Measurement: Record quality status to show where improvement is possible and

where corrective action is necessary and to document actual improvement later.

4. Cost of quality: to define the ingredients of the cost of quality (COQ) and explain its
use as a management tool. COQ is not an absolute performance measurement; it is an
indication of where corrective action will be profitable for a company. The higher the
cost, the more corrective action that needs to be taken.
5. Quality awareness:Share with employees the measurements of what non-quality is
costing. This is done by training supervisors to orient employees and by providing
visible evidence of the concern for quality improvement through communication material
such as booklets, films and posters.It is not a motivation program, rather it is a sharing
process.
6. Corrective action: To provide a systematic method for resolving the problems
that are identified through the previous action steps. Not only the problems identified
through the inspection or audit, but also the issues as seen by the working people
themselves need attention and correction.
7. Zero defects: to examine the various activities that must be conducted in preparation
for formally launching zero-defects day. Literal meaning of the words “zero defects” is
to be communicated to everyone such that everyone should do things right the first
time.
8. Employee education: to define the type of training all employees need in order
actively to carry out their role in the quality improvement process. Conduct a formal
orientation with all levels of management prior to implementation of all the steps.
9. Planning and zero-defects day: to create an event that will let all employees realize,
through a personal experience, that there has been a change. Establishment of zero
defects as the performance standard of the company should be done in one day.
10. Goal setting: to turn pledges and commitments into action by encouraging
individuals to establish improvement goals for themselves and their groups. During
meetings with employees, each supervisor requests they establish the goals they
would like to strive for. Usually, there should be 30-, 60- and 90-day goals. All should be
specific and measurable
11. Error-cause removal: to give the individual employee a method of communicating to
management the situations that make it difficult for the employee to meet the pledge to
Improve. Ask individuals to describe any problem that keeps them from performing error
free work on a simple, one-page form. Appropriate functional group will find out the
solution.
12. Recognition: to appreciate those who meet their goals or perform outstanding
acts.Problems identified during the error cause removal stage should all be
treated the same way because they are not suggestions. The prizes or awards should
not be financial.
13. Quality councils: Bring the quality professionals and team chairpersons together
regularly to communicate with each other and determine actions necessary to
upgrade and improve the solid quality program being installed on a regular basis. These
councils are the best source of information on the status of programs and ideas
for action. They also bring the professionals together on a regular basis.
14. Do it all over again: to emphasize that the quality improvement process is
continuous. New teams are to be brought in. Repetition makes the program
perpetual

Enablers of Total Quality

Total Quality Management (TQM) relies on several key enablers that help organizations
achieve continuous improvement, customer satisfaction, and operational excellence.
The main enablers of total quality include:

1. Leadership Commitment

● Strong leadership is essential for driving a quality-focused culture.

● Leaders set the vision, provide resources, and foster a commitment to quality at
all levels.

2. Customer Focus

● Understanding and meeting customer needs is at the core of total quality.

● Organizations must gather feedback and continuously improve products/services
to enhance customer satisfaction.

3. Employee Involvement & Empowerment

 ● Employees must be engaged, trained, and empowered to take responsibility for
quality.
● A culture of continuous learning and collaboration is critical.

4. Process Approach

● Quality improvement should be process-driven rather than just focusing on end

results.
● Standardized procedures, process mapping, and optimization ensure
consistency and efficiency.

5. Continuous Improvement (Kaizen)

● TQM is built on the principle of ongoing, incremental improvements in all areas.

● Organizations must adopt tools like Lean, Six Sigma, and PDCA (Plan-Do-
Check-Act) cycles.

6. Fact-Based Decision Making

● Data-driven decision-making ensures that quality initiatives are based on

accurate insights rather than assumptions.
● Statistical tools like SPC (Statistical Process Control) and benchmarking help
analyze performance.

7. Supplier Relationship Management

● Quality is not limited to internal processes but extends to suppliers and external
partners.
● Collaboration with suppliers ensures that raw materials, components, and
services meet quality standards.

8. Effective Communication

● Clear and open communication channels across all levels of the organization
ensure that quality objectives are understood and followed.
● Regular meetings, feedback loops, and transparent reporting structures help
maintain alignment.

9. Technology & Innovation

● The use of modern technologies, automation, and digital transformation supports

quality enhancement.
 ● Innovation in processes and products ensures competitiveness and customer
satisfaction.

10. Organizational Culture & Values

● A culture that values quality, integrity, and excellence fosters long-term success.
● Employees must feel motivated to uphold quality standards as part of the
company’s core values.